Category: barclay

Eskimo Playdate!

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, jack, pets1 Comment

Today we had a doggie playdate! Sherry is in our dog training/activities club and she has two young eskimos – Sake and Sitka. Her’s are minis, like Alki. We’ve met at the dog park a couple times and they all get on great with Barclay, so I invited her over to the house so Jack could play too.

Run for your life, Jack! It’s a pack of eskimos!

I love Jack’s expression in this one!

They all know where the treats are!

They are all shamelessly working Sherry for treats! Even my two!

Thanks to Dave for thinking to grab the camera and get some pictures! I was busy watching dogs 🙂 They played until they were so wore out they were just laying around rolling on each other. Then Sherry took hers home, and Barclay sat in the front window and pined for them for a bit – he loves his new friends! But they left just in time, it started pouring rain about ten minutes after they left. Then everyone (me included – ha ha) napped away the rest of the afternoon.

Shellless Egg

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, chickens, jack2 Comments
 
 
One of the girls laid a shellless egg! It is just a membrane, no shell. What a weird thing to hold. It’s all squishy! I don’t think it’s anything to worry about though, I’ve read that hens occasionally lay one, especially if they are just starting laying, and I have a couple young hens that certainly could be just getting started. Plus it was laid in a nest they don’t usually use, so it must have been one of the girls still figuring out how it’s done.
 
 The dogs still enjoyed it!

Alki in the hospital, Barclay eats an egg

On By stefrobrtsIn alki, barclay, jack, petsLeave a comment

Last week we tried a new antibiotic on Alki, because the vet thinks she has a kidney infection. Unfortunately it upset her stomach and she became reluctant to eat. Then the vet gave us some medicine to help her stomach, and some anti-nausea meds on Saturday, and she ate fine. But Sunday she threw up her food, and Sunday night she woke me up at 4AM throwing up. I tried to give her the medicine and a little bread to settle her stomach but she threw that up too. So I called the vet first thing in the morning and she said to bring her right in. She put her on IV fluids and took a urine sample to send to the lab to determine exactly which antibiotic she needs, and gave her a shot to settle her stomach. When we visited in the afternoon the vet said Alki had settled right down in her kennel and was resting. They had just taken her for a walk to go potty, and we could visit her if we wanted, but I didn’t want her to get all stirred up again. She said it was a good thing she was deaf because none of the noises around the busy vet hospital were bothering her, and although she had been nervous and shaking terribly when we brought her in, she seemed to be relaxing and just hanging out now. Tomorrow the vet wants me to bring her some of her favorite food and if she can eat it and keep it down she can come home tomorrow.

It’s so weird having her gone. It’s quieter around the house, and a bit more relaxing not worrying about her all the time, but I keep looking for her. I know this is what it will be like when she’s gone. It will still take some getting used to even though we’ve had almost three years to get used to the idea. But hopefully this crisis will pass and she’ll be home tomorrow and recovering from this little setback.

Meanwhile, out in the yard, I played with Barclay and gave him an egg to eat.

 
  
  
Jack didn’t get an egg, but he was curious about it.

 
Instead I called him over and practiced some obedience while Barclay was busy with the egg.
 

So he got some jerky, which was just as good to him, he can’t figure out what to do with eggs anyway.

Garden 2010

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, garden2 Comments
For the last year or so the paddock area has only been used as a pathway to take the dogs out into the pasture to play fetch, and I have set a little table and chairs under the shelter and I like to sit out there and read and watch the dogs play and watch the world go by.  I decided it was time to make some changes. Since I don’t anticipate having livestock again anytime soon, I rearranged the shelter. 
 
I removed the boards off the pasture side, and put them on the paddock side.
 
So now the shelter is open to the pasture. Which leaves the paddock area shut off from the pasture, except for the gated entrances. So that area will be my garden this year, and if all goes well for the next few years.

It’s kind of a grassy weedy mess right now, but it was well fertilized by the llamas and sheep so I’m interested to see how this works out. I think I will have better luck planting directly in the ground than I have had in previous years planting in pots or doing an intensive garden. I plan to give my plants lots of room this year.

It doesn’t look like much to write home about, but the turned over area along the fence is my row of peas. I planted them there so they could climb up the fence without having to add extra support for them. 
Luckily it’s still early in the season, so I have time to get the rest of the area in order. I’m planning to just work up rows where I need them, and kill the grass in the pathways and put down bark chips to walk on. I’m going to use organic fertilizer where needed. I’m hoping to get a good winter crop in this year as well so we can have Brussels Sprouts and Broccoli and Chard, and, using a cold frame, lettuce and spinach all winter. We’ll see how that goes. Big plans for someone who can barely produce a few tomatoes every summer!

I opened a section of fence from the main yard into the pasture for doggie access. It’s funny how this makes the front yard feel completely different! Look how happy Barclay is to fetch a ball out of the pasture 🙂 I’m going to put a metal gate there so I can still have control over their access. Otherwise they can be real pests about going out in the pasture and barking at the neighbors.

Around the farm

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, chickens, food, jack1 Comment
I got up this morning and took the dogs out, and went out to feed the chickens. My big buff rooster looks so much like his dad! (he’s in the back). I threw some scratch down in the coop for the girls.They gave me six eggs in return!

One of the girls was impatient waiting for her scratch while I was filling the feeder and she ran out into the ‘service’ area, and scared Barclay. She had such a determined look as she ran up to him he turned tail and ran!

Then he stole the scoop. He thought this was a sure-fire way to get me to chase him, but he forgot I have two scoops now.

 
We came back in and Jack was in the mood to get rowdy!

Woo hoo! Running through the house!
 
Wheeeeee!
Then it was time for doggie breakfast. And people breakfast.
The other day I made Beef and Bok Choy Hot Pot for dinner, and I made extra so there would be leftovers. It’s like an asian beef soup. So this morning I heated up a small pot of the leftovers, threw in some ramen noodles, and had that for a hearty breakfast – yum!

Then off for another exciting day at work…

Barclay portraits

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, pets3 Comments

Barclay came into the office and said ‘if I pose for an awesome picture will you get off your duff and come outside and play with me for a bit?’

I said ‘well..if it’s awesome…’

I love having such photogenic animals around!
These were both taken with him sitting by my computer desk, and the only light in the room was the desk lamp. Better yet, I took them with the point-n-shoot because Dave has my fancy camera at the theater today working on his time lapse project. I can’t believe how nice these came out!
And yes, I did take him outside and play 🙂

A good recall

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, pets2 Comments

After two years of working on ‘come’, Barclay has really been doing well at it, even coming back in the house when he’d rather stay out and play – which I try to make very rewarding for him. Today at dusk we were out in the pasture, and I was sitting under the cover taking pictures of the rain running off the roof, and Barclay and Jack were way out at the other end of the field in the rain. I called Barclay, twice because it was raining so hard, and he perked up and heard me, turned to see where I was, and then RAN back to me at TOP SPEED! He was probably 200 ft away sniffing around with Jack, and he dropped everything and came running back – I was so proud of him! And of course I didn’t have any treats, so we played for a bit instead, which made him very happy – he’d rather play than have treats anyway 🙂

Making Marmalade

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, foodLeave a comment
I felt adventurous today and made preserves. Marmalade to be exact. I was watching Good Eats a couple nights ago, and he was showing how to make Orange Marmalade, and mentioned that the best Marmalade oranges, Sevilles, were only available for a short time in January. So of course I thought ‘hey, it’s January now!’, and ran right out and bought some. Boy, talk about your bitter oranges – yikes!  Those things are nasty!
 
I had a little help in the kitchen…
So I cut them up, cooked them up, got all the canning stuff ready – I went over and helped a friend can tomatoes this summer to learn how, so I was eager for something to can – and then I had a little problem. The recipe said to cook the Marmalade to 222 degrees after adding the sugar. That turned into a horrible mess! The thick, sugary mix was popping and throwing hot lava everywhere, and it hung at 219 for the longest time before it finally reached the goal – and by then it had scorched on the bottom and gotten quite dark – not bright and orange like marmalade should be.
I went ahead and canned it anyway. I wanted the experience of using the hot water bath canning method. It all seems to have sealed well. I figured if it’s terrible I’ve only wasted a few lids. What I tasted of it before I canned it tasted very bitter and scorched.

When I got done, I had a big pot of boiling water on the stove, and since I bought a whole chicken to bake for dinner, I cut it up and threw the less attractive bits into the pot, along with some carrots, celery, onion, herbs and tah-dah…

Mmm, homemade chicken stock – so the day isn’t a complete loss!

Barclay gets stuck

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, farm, pets2 Comments
 If only he had stayed in bed! But instead he went out this morning and chased the stray cat who lives in our hay shed and went right under the floor of the shed – where there was apparently a cat-sized exit hole, but not a dog sized one! So while the cat skedadled off and dissapeared, Barclay was left under the floor, crying and whining. I called him, but he just cried back. I pulled back all the plywood panels to get access under there, and I could hear him, but I was hesitant to climb under there in the dark, spidery recesses. I went and got a flashlight, with his cries in my ears the whole way and ran back, but flashing it around and calling him, I still couldn’t see where he was. Then I thought ‘If I crawl under there and get stuck…’, so I left the flashlight under there and ran back to the house to call Dave who was on his way into town. Just as Dave answered his cell Barclay come running out of the shed at top speed – still looking for that cat!
So a happy ending for all, but I don’t even want to think what if he had really gotten stuck – I suddenly had images of disassembling the shed on the spot! Or if he’d gotten stuck down there when nobody knew where he was. I guess that will be my job for tomorrow – seal up the hole that goes under the shed better, and find out if I can get a trap for that damn cat!